Chapter I – Introduction to Principle Concepts and Decision Framework
What is Environmental Science? - Interdisciplinary - Human relationship w/ living & non-living environment - Problem solving & abatement - Systems approach
5 Guiding Principles 1. Sustainability § Long term/Functioning natural systems/Meet our needs § To be sustainable we must:
· Think about long term effects
· Live within limits of renewable & non-renewable resources
· Understand all costs
· Share responsibility
§ We are not being sustainable · Using non-renewables · Using renewables too fast · Polluting · Increasing human population
Question: What are the barriers to sustainability?
Readings: Sustainability #1 and #2
2. Increasing human population § Exponential growth § Resources are fixed
Reading: Erlich vs. Simon
3. Link between environmental destruction and poverty § Kuznet’s curve § Lack of education & opportunity § Choice between family and environment
Question: When would Kuznet’s curve not hold true?
4. Consumption matters as much as numbers § I=PAT § People vs. consumption overpopulation § Disparity between resource use and population size
Question: What will happen as more countries develop? What would Erlich or Simon say? What should we do?
5. Tragedy of the Commons § Shared public resource in demand § Solved by law or privatization § Global Commons § Think of examples
- What is mercury & what are impacts? - Complicating factors of bioaccumulation & biomagnification - Systems affected (water and air) - Source of problem - What do we do?
Homework Assignment: 2 pages – What is my biggest impact of the environment?
Paper Towels vs. the Environment
As I opened my assignment pad today to commence with my homework, I glanced over to the “Green Your Scene” section to read the following tip: “Buy a couple of cute vintage cloth napkins from a thrift shop, and see how stylish green mealtimes can be.” This overtly female targeted tip reminded me of one of the biggest impacts I have on the environment, the use of paper towels. For every meal, I estimate that I use about 1.2 sheets of napkin paper to keep my hands clean. While I do occasionally cut paper towels in half when at home so I can use less of it per meal, this practice is not practical at school. Because using paper towels is so common in our everyday lives, no one really notices or even considers the damage it can cause on the environment.
Let’s begin with some facts about the paper towel. Paper pulp extracted from wood or fiber crops are used to make paper towels; paper pulp can be virgin, meaning from newly cut trees, or recycled. During production, paper towels are bleached to make them appear whiter (Rajeev, 2009). According to Pablo Paster, it takes 10 grams of greenhouse gas emission and 0.3 liters of water to make a paper napkin (Paster, 2009). Also, the transportation of wood to factories and paper towels to stores involves large trucks that burn diesel gas. And finally, paper towels are used only once and then thrown away.
Though one may think that because trees are a renewable resource paper towels do not impact the natural world too much, however, the trees in old forests like the Boreal forest that have grown for hundreds of years do not grow back nearly as quickly as they are being cut down. Then the trees would have to be processed into paper towels in factories, releasing lots of pollution including chlorine compounds from bleach. The packaging of paper towels also involves plastic wraps made from petroleum and paper rolls. Of course the transportation of the paper towels wastes a lot of energy, as well as the storage of paper towels in stores. Also, after the paper towels are thrown away, the cost of disposing them also impacts the world, since most of the paper towels are dumped in landfills along with other trash, where they stay for hundreds of years.
The Kimberly-Clark’s 2008 data summary shows that 5.98 tons of carbon dioxide is emitted from manufacturing, 1.54 million tons of waste is produced, 143.3 million cubic meters of water is used, and a total of 76.4 trillion Btu of energy is used. All of this is used in one year of paper towel (and other paper related products) production. I highly doubt anyone considers these numbers when wiping away the grease from their mouths or when throwing a toilet paper roll across the room.
All of this damage comes from my daily use of paper towels during meals. So what can be done about it? If I do switch to cloth napkins would I really be able to decrease my damage to the world? Pablo Paster points out that each cotton napkin emits 1 kilogram of greenhouse gas and uses 150 liters of water during production (Paster, 2009). Also the cost of washing the napkins including the pollution from the detergent as well as the energy wasted from the washing machine would also hurt the environment in the long run.
Though it is tempting to say that people should just stop using paper towel products, this is an impossible solution. For one, it is extremely difficult to get everyone in the world (or even Pace Academy) to stop using paper towels. However, on an economic standpoint, such a big industry cannot just be shut down over night because many people depend on it. Kimberly-Clark pays $3.3 billion in employee wages, benefits and payroll taxes, $0.6 billion in taxes, and has 55,000 employees. Also, the people selling the products, the stocks, and all affiliated industries and personnel depending on such a big industry would all be significantly impacted.
Of course the whole matter comes down to the sustainability question, how can we balance the environmental impacts with the economy so that the world can spin for a little while longer. Despite the grim paper towel situation presented to the human race, I am sure that a compromise can be achieved in the future somehow; but in the meantime, we should all do our part to learn more about our everyday actions and their impacts so we can be better informed.
What is Environmental Science?
- Interdisciplinary
- Human relationship w/ living & non-living environment
- Problem solving & abatement
- Systems approach
5 Guiding Principles
1. Sustainability
§ Long term/Functioning natural systems/Meet our needs
§ To be sustainable we must:
§ We are not being sustainable
· Using non-renewables
· Using renewables too fast
· Polluting
· Increasing human population
Question: What are the barriers to sustainability?
Readings: Sustainability #1 and #2
2. Increasing human population
§ Exponential growth
§ Resources are fixed
Reading: Erlich vs. Simon
3. Link between environmental destruction and poverty
§ Kuznet’s curve
§ Lack of education & opportunity
§ Choice between family and environment
Question: When would Kuznet’s curve not hold true?
4. Consumption matters as much as numbers
§ I=PAT
§ People vs. consumption overpopulation
§ Disparity between resource use and population size
Question: What will happen as more countries develop? What would Erlich or Simon say? What should we do?
5. Tragedy of the Commons
§ Shared public resource in demand
§ Solved by law or privatization
§ Global Commons
§ Think of examples
Scientific Method Addressing Problems
Readings & Homework
Case Study: Mercury Contamination in GA Fish
- What is mercury & what are impacts?
- Complicating factors of bioaccumulation & biomagnification
- Systems affected (water and air)
- Source of problem
- What do we do?
Homework Assignment: 2 pages – What is my biggest impact of the environment?
Paper Towels vs. the Environment
As I opened my assignment pad today to commence with my homework, I glanced over to the “Green Your Scene” section to read the following tip: “Buy a couple of cute vintage cloth napkins from a thrift shop, and see how stylish green mealtimes can be.” This overtly female targeted tip reminded me of one of the biggest impacts I have on the environment, the use of paper towels. For every meal, I estimate that I use about 1.2 sheets of napkin paper to keep my hands clean. While I do occasionally cut paper towels in half when at home so I can use less of it per meal, this practice is not practical at school. Because using paper towels is so common in our everyday lives, no one really notices or even considers the damage it can cause on the environment.
Let’s begin with some facts about the paper towel. Paper pulp extracted from wood or fiber crops are used to make paper towels; paper pulp can be virgin, meaning from newly cut trees, or recycled. During production, paper towels are bleached to make them appear whiter (Rajeev, 2009). According to Pablo Paster, it takes 10 grams of greenhouse gas emission and 0.3 liters of water to make a paper napkin (Paster, 2009). Also, the transportation of wood to factories and paper towels to stores involves large trucks that burn diesel gas. And finally, paper towels are used only once and then thrown away.
Though one may think that because trees are a renewable resource paper towels do not impact the natural world too much, however, the trees in old forests like the Boreal forest that have grown for hundreds of years do not grow back nearly as quickly as they are being cut down. Then the trees would have to be processed into paper towels in factories, releasing lots of pollution including chlorine compounds from bleach. The packaging of paper towels also involves plastic wraps made from petroleum and paper rolls. Of course the transportation of the paper towels wastes a lot of energy, as well as the storage of paper towels in stores. Also, after the paper towels are thrown away, the cost of disposing them also impacts the world, since most of the paper towels are dumped in landfills along with other trash, where they stay for hundreds of years.
The Kimberly-Clark’s 2008 data summary shows that 5.98 tons of carbon dioxide is emitted from manufacturing, 1.54 million tons of waste is produced, 143.3 million cubic meters of water is used, and a total of 76.4 trillion Btu of energy is used. All of this is used in one year of paper towel (and other paper related products) production. I highly doubt anyone considers these numbers when wiping away the grease from their mouths or when throwing a toilet paper roll across the room.
All of this damage comes from my daily use of paper towels during meals. So what can be done about it? If I do switch to cloth napkins would I really be able to decrease my damage to the world? Pablo Paster points out that each cotton napkin emits 1 kilogram of greenhouse gas and uses 150 liters of water during production (Paster, 2009). Also the cost of washing the napkins including the pollution from the detergent as well as the energy wasted from the washing machine would also hurt the environment in the long run.
Though it is tempting to say that people should just stop using paper towel products, this is an impossible solution. For one, it is extremely difficult to get everyone in the world (or even Pace Academy) to stop using paper towels. However, on an economic standpoint, such a big industry cannot just be shut down over night because many people depend on it. Kimberly-Clark pays $3.3 billion in employee wages, benefits and payroll taxes, $0.6 billion in taxes, and has 55,000 employees. Also, the people selling the products, the stocks, and all affiliated industries and personnel depending on such a big industry would all be significantly impacted.
Of course the whole matter comes down to the sustainability question, how can we balance the environmental impacts with the economy so that the world can spin for a little while longer. Despite the grim paper towel situation presented to the human race, I am sure that a compromise can be achieved in the future somehow; but in the meantime, we should all do our part to learn more about our everyday actions and their impacts so we can be better informed.
Citation:
Kimberly-Clark, (2009). Data Summary 2008. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from Sustainability Report 2008 Web site: http://www.kimberly-clark.com/aboutus/Sustainability/sustainability_pg67.aspx
Paster, P (2009, July 13). Are papernapkins more environmentally friendly?. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from Treehuger Web site: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/07/are-paper-napkins-more-environmentally-friendly.php
Pearson, C (2009, May 3). What’s in your box of Kleenex?. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from Through a Green Lens Web site: http://throughagreenlens.com/2009/05/03/whats-in-your-box-of-kleenex/
Rajeev, L (2009, July 2). Facts about paper towels. Retrieved August 22, 2009, from Buzzle.com Web site: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/facts-about-paper-towels.html